Jalen Brunson scored 38 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds to boost the visiting New York Knicks to a 133-127 victory against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
OG Anunoby contributed 23 points for New York, which trailed by as many as 19 points in the third quarter but won the fourth 43-31 on the way to securing its second victory in as many nights after an 0-3 start.
Landry Shamet’s trey with 6:26 remaining gave the Knicks a 112-109 lead, an advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.
Brunson had 11 points in the first quarter to set the tone for his highest offensive output of the season. He hit a trey to push the advantage to 11 with 3:17 left in the fourth but the Bulls rallied to within 130-127 on a Jalen Smith 3 with 46 seconds left.
Brunson split a pair of free throws with 6.2 seconds to go. Anunoby sealed the result with two free throws after Norman Powell missed from deep on the ensuing Chicago possession.
Powell scored 14 of his 30 points in the third quarter as seven Bulls finished in double figures. Caleb Wilson added 20 points and Smith had 17 points and 11 boards. Matas Buzelis chipped in 17 points while Tre Jones (11), Josh Giddey (10) and Leonard Miller (10) were next.
Giddey added 11 assists and eight rebounds. Andre Drummond grabbed 11 boards for the Knicks.
Outscored by 38 points in the third quarter over their past two games, the Bulls finished even with the Knicks on Wednesday despite an encouraging start.
Powell shined during an 18-3 run midway through the quarter that stretched the advantage to 19. He contributed 10 points to the surge, including a pullup trey that put Chicago ahead 87-68 with 4:57 remaining in the third.
New York answered with 22 of the next 29 points to trim the deficit to four points in the closing seconds of the quarter. Anunoby started the run with a 3 and Tyler Kolek added two more.
Chicago led 62-56 at halftime, entering the locker room with a boost after Jones swished a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from just inside midcourt after an offensive goaltending call against Drummond.
Jordan Clarkson (18 points) and Shamet (14) finished in double figures for New York. Kolek dished nine assists and Brunson chipped in seven.
